First Thailand Destination - Soi Dog Foundation, Phuket

I've essentially been an animal lover since birth. If I had my way, Axle would have many companions and our life would unfold into something like All Creatures Great And Small (minus the vet skills).

Before I try to force this reality into existence, I decided I needed to get more animal shelter exposure.  I arrived in Phuket on Tuesday afternoon (14 hours ahead of Seattle's PST) and have been staying at a guesthouse in northern Nai Yang Beach in anticipation of visiting Soi Dog starting tomorrow. The highly respected Soi Dog Foundation has a shelter about a 15 minute drive away, which houses 400+ dogs and cats, as well as a dedicated staff of local/international vets and volunteers. There are even Burmese refugees living on site, making it a very diverse location from which to kick off my journey.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of Soi Dog's work - they have a clinic in Bangkok, run a feeding program for animals in temples across the country, have successfully sterilized over 50,000 dogs and cats in the past 10 years, and work to stop the dog meat trade. There are frequent illegal thefts of dogs (some with collars, i.e. someone's stolen pet) for transport into Vietnam for human consumption. Soi Dog employs under cover investigators and help from the Royal Thai Police and Navy to assist in intercepting these "deliveries".

There are additional barriers involved in running an animal shelter/non profit abroad (the founders are from the UK). Buddhism, the predominant religion in Thailand, dictates that euthanasia is not acceptable for our furry friends. For whatever reason there is a cultural loophole where people will put out poisoned food for "soi" (Thai for street) dogs and cats, because the animal "chooses" to eat that food and therefore die. Of course Soi Dog is not involved with this poisoning, but it is a reality to be aware of.

A note to visitors of any country with a stray pet population (and I admit I have not followed this rule in the past): do NOT feed or pay attention to stray animals, especially near any restaurant or accommodation. While you may be an animal lover, the animal will be conditioned to seek out food and attention from the same place, and the owner of the property or next visitor may not be so kind. I sadly witnessed a restaurant employee throw a heavy brick and very barely miss hitting a dog just earlier today.

Though I recognize that there are plenty of animals in need in my own country, good/secure housing is limited for dogs in Thailand and Soi can work with adopters all over the world. If you come visit me, I hope you'll consider being a "flight volunteer" to help get a dog to the states. It's at no cost to you - the adopter pays all the fees, there is no quarantine, and it's more cost effective to transport the dog as cargo with a person than by themselves. It's pretty hassle free and you'll get to witness the beautiful moment of a dog meeting its new forever owner at the airport. :)

This is how Dustin imagined my visit:

This photo was with an article about rescuing dogs from the Chinese meat trade

There isn't much to do in Nai Yang besides eat, drink and relax on the beach (rough life), so I am looking forward to this opportunity, especially as the weather is alternating between cloudy sun and torrential downpours (it's the wet season until the end of the month when winter/the high tourism season sets in). My tiny digs look out onto a fancy resort I can't afford that I also have to walk through to get to the beach, but I feel comfortable so far here. The food is incredible and it's nice to be somewhere warm and friendly.

Pud Thai

Creepy selfie

Lunch view

This was a strange moment - tourists were taking photos of this crab when 2 restaurant employees started yelling and came running in their direction. I think they were trying to keep their dog away from the crab, but they proceeded to pick it up and bring it back to the restaurant. Some seriously fresh seafood, I guess!

Manatee waves hi

"View" from my guest house during a downpour

-Erin